Kim attacks 'frightened dog' Trump

KIM Jong-un has struck back fiercely at Donald Trump after the US President's threat this week to "totally destroy” North Korea if it attacks the US or one of its allies.

"Far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense,” Kim said yesterday.

"A frightened dog barks louder. He is unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire.”

He said Mr Trump's threats had "convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last”.

"Action is the best option in treating the dotard who, hard of hearing, is uttering only what he wants to say.

"I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the US pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the DPRK.

"I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,” he said.

The rant came just hours after Mr Trump said the US would impose new sanctions on North Korea in response to the country's developing nuclear program and increasingly aggressive missile demonstrations.

This would allow the US to target individuals, businesses and financial institutions that help North Korea, he said.

His announcement came as the Chinese central bank told the country's banks to strictly implement United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang, amid US concerns Beijing's response to North Korea's nuclear threat was not tough enough.

Threats have spurred the paranoid Mr Kim to do more nuclear missile tests.

Reuters reported that Chinese banks are being told to begin honouring the UN sanctions came amid concerns those banks are serving as financial conduits for an increasingly isolated North Korea.

A document reportedly distributed by the central bank to other financial institutions asked those banks to fully implement the UN sanctions, and they were warned of economic and reputational risks should they refuse to do so. The letter instructed the banks to halt services for new North Korean clients and to wind down existing loans.

"We will be putting more sanctions on North Korea,” Mr Trump said during a meeting with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani.

In those remarks, the President called North Korea a "rogue regime” and a "grave threat” to the world. Some reports indicate that the sanctions could target oil.

Mr Trump also met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, two American allies who have been threatened by North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.

The most recent nuclear test - the sixth and most powerful yet - was on September 3 and prompted the UN to impose further sanctions on the country. Mr Kim has also launched missiles over Japan recently.

"North Korea has continued to make provocations, and this is extremely deplorable,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said of the nuclear test. "But the US has responded firmly, and in a very good way.”

The announcement came days after the President taunted Kim Jong-un, calling him "Rocket Man” in a speech to the UN General Assembly and saying the Korean leader was on a "suicide mission”.

Still, Mr Trump expressed optimism that North Korea would end its testing and come to the negotiating table as a result of economic and diplomatic pressure.

"We must do much more,” Mr Trump said during that speech in New York. "It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behaviour.”

Mr Trump and Mr Kim have been testing each other for months now, and the President has employed increasingly harsh tones to discuss Mr Kim. After North Korea threatened to launch a missile at the American territory Guam, Mr Trump promised that the US would bring "fire and fury” to North Korea if the country continued to threaten the US and its allies.

Those threats haven't yet stopped Mr Kim from launching missile and nuclear tests. Instead, the country has upped the ante, launching two missiles directly over Japan, prompting officials there to worry that North Korea may be on the verge of launching an actual attack that could embroil the region in what would likely be a bloody and devastating war.